Two of the eight-man gang that snatched N6.8million from the manager of a Lagos filling station have been arrested.
They are Ayodele Ogunbiyi aka Sese (30) and Olalekan Oladipupo aka Abago (28).
The manager was going to deposit the money in bank about 11.30am on February 3 at Morobo area along Badagry Expressway.
According to the police, the gang operated with ‘insider’ information. The gang was said to have intercepted one Adewale, the manager of the filling station in his Toyota Camry car on his way to the bank, opened fire on him and collected the cash.
The police said the gang converged on Agbara Motor Park where they picked up arms and ammunition before going for the operation.
They parked their motorcycles beside the filling station where commercial motorcycles riders popularly called okada always gather.
The moment the manager came out of the filling station, they rushed him and escaped with the money through Lusada Road.
The suspects were arrested at Iyana-Iba, Lagos, on April 7 by the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) operators.
The gang, the police said, is also notorious for robbing traders on the Cotonou route.
Oladipupo said: “We are an eight-man gang; it was Webo that called Sese and said we should meet at Agbara Motor Park where we shared the guns. Webo and the guy that brought the information were in the filling station. When the manager came out, I used my bike to block him but he knocked me down. FC shot him; I shot at the windscreen. Everybody shot him and Sese went and brought the money and his two blackberry phones. Webo took us to Igando and gave me N410,000, Sese was given N430,000. At Sese’s baby naming, I sprayed N220,000. Others also sprayed money. I knew Sese in Secondary school. When we were doing pick-pocket work, if I get phone or wallet from a passenger, I pass it to Sese likewise if he gets one, he passed it over to me and I will get down at the nearest bus stop or both of us will alight together.”
Ogunbiyi said he knew Webo at Badagry where he went to look for work.
He said: “I was the one who went and carried the bag after he knocked down my motorcycle. I gave the bag to Webo and he gave me N430,000. My wife gave birth on February 20. I was arrested on April 7. I am a Catholic. The need for money to do naming made me go and rob. Police arrested Lekan (Oladipupo) and used him to get me at Ajangbadi bus stop where he asked me to meet him.
“As a pick pocket expert I can pick anything of value with my fingers. Where it is difficult, I use razor blade to tear the trouser. No magic in pick-pocket job. When we sit with passengers in a bus or Keke tricycle, at a point we ask the passenger to shift touching his body with one side of my body to distract him and my hand will go for his pocket at the same time. Once I get something, I pass it to my partner or I keep it on the seat so that, if by chance the owner starts looking for it, he will see it on the seat. Where there is hot argument by the owner, passengers among whom my partners will intervene and pacify the owner.”